


The Tribblehog Day

by Aidaran, StarTravel



Category: Star Trek, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Genre: Fluff, Fun, Groundhog Day, Humor, M/M, Time Loop, absurd fights, break up and reconciliation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-19
Updated: 2021-01-19
Packaged: 2021-03-10 06:27:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,019
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27769756
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aidaran/pseuds/Aidaran, https://archiveofourown.org/users/StarTravel/pseuds/StarTravel
Summary: When Julian and Garak find themselves in an unending time loop, they are forced to talk about why are they angry at each other, and decide on a course of action.
Relationships: Julian Bashir/Elim Garak
Comments: 24
Kudos: 63
Collections: Star Trek: Just in Time Fest





	The Tribblehog Day

**Author's Note:**

> No sci fi series is complete without a groundhog day episode, so we're here to fix that.

**Day 1**

“Screw you, Garak!” Julian stormed out with his arms crossed against his chest, mouth twisted into something like a snarl. He couldn't’ believe it, he couldn’t... through the mist of his anger, he noticed the station eerily quiet. “Hello? Anybody there?”

He heard boots and hastened to the infirmary, trying to communicate with somebody, anybody, through his combadge.

Nothing. 

Was he alone in Deep Space 9, the station overrun by an unknown force?

He stayed in the infirmary several hours, trying to bypass the systems, trying to get _anybody_ to answer to his pleas for help.

When the strangers finally broke the door down and entered, killing him, he didn’t even put up a fight.

**Day 2**

Julian looked at the tiny room he was in. He was quite sure he'd been there one day ago. Then everything had gone awry and he’d … died? So why was he again there?

He touched his shirt. Yes, those places he remembered being shot at were all healed, as if that had never happened.

He sighed as he pulled the door to his bedroom open, sadly not surprised to see Garak on the other side, just as he was before he had stormed out the day before. He raised an eyebrow, leaning against the door. “Did you find yourself here yesterday by any chance, arguing with me, or am I just losing my mind?”

"Ah, I wondered if I was losing mine. At least we’re spared repeating the annoying discussion we had following you getting inside this room, I hope."

“Of course. So we’ve somehow gone back in time one day. Now the question is why and what happened that led to our deaths.”

"You died as well? good to know I wasn't alone." There was snark in his voice.

“Oh how lucky for you, yes. Free of me and not alone in death. What more could a man ask for?”

"With free of you I'd be satisfied, thank you very much. So, now that I know we died in bizarre incidents, I will avoid the console that exploded, and you go do whatever you were doing."

Neither thought even for a second to ask the other one for help.

**Day 3**

"So, we died again, didn't we, _Elim?"_

“It appears so.” Garak answered with a sigh as he sat down on Julian’s bed. He sniffed, shaking his head with a long sigh. “And I didn’t go near the console this time.”

"Let's start from the beginning. I died the first time by hiding in the medbay until they broke the door down, and then the second one, I faced them and was pushed into an airlock by the invading forces. How about you? what did you see and why were you near the consoles?"

“I was trying to decode a message for Captain Sisko. Unfortunately there wasn’t anything of note on it. The second time I just tried to hide on the cargo Bay, which seems to have been set on fire. Tragic really, dying without even a whiff of scandal. ”

"Yes, though, how comes there's no senior staff anywhere? I didn't even find my nurses. The promenade was empty."

“How tragic for you, dying without eye candy dangling from your arm. Everyone knows you couldn’t stand being alone for more than 5 minutes.”

"Ah, and what about you? I don't see you walking out this door to go get some alone time, my beloved tailor. Maybe you’re the one who can’t stand being alone." Julian sniffed as he leaned back against the wall. 

“Hmm, maybe whatever company you preferred to mine got sick of you. That would serve you right.”

"Know what, Garak? I don't really need to hear that from you of all people." Julian went out, and for once he wished the doors were old, wooden ones, so he could slam it on Garak's face. Whatever, he probably noticed how angry the shuss that followed as he left was.

**Day 4**

"Well, _shit_." Julian sat at the couch with despair. This time he had tripped and fell to his death. It was becoming absurd.

Garak paced the room, ignoring him in favor of trying to see why their various strategies had gone so wrong. “You always have had a way with words, my dear. Now, whatever this phenomena is, it keeps taking us back to this moment, when I came to ask you if the rumors were true. Clearly that must be connected to our predicament somehow.”

"Ah, so you getting all friendly with that Andorian is what got us in this mess? I'd rather go get blown to oblivion by Romulans, if you'll excuse me."

“Friendly with that Andorian? What are you talking about? The reason I came here was your dalliance with _you know who._ ”

"Ah, projecting your own guilt on others, are you?"

And he again wished the door would slam as he left the room. The whoosh really failed to convey how angry he was.

**Day 5**

“I tripped on that yellow fruit’s skin you’re so fond of, doctor, what is its name?”

“A banana, Garak. Quite symbolic of what got us into trouble.”

**Day 6**

“A tribble ate me.”

“That’s certainly a new one, doctor.”

“It was a pretty big one. What about you?”

Garak looked to the side, voice just a touch less calm than usual. “Choked on a fry at Quark’s.”

“What.” Julian couldn’t quite fight off the grin coming over his face, leaning in and momentarily forgetting he was furious at Garak. 

“I was hungry!”

**Day 7**

"Doctor, for Cardassia's sake, we need to figure out what's happening and solve it!"

“Yes, let’s start here and now, since this seems to be the moment where it all starts. Let’s just get everything out in the open. You cheated on me, Garak!”

"I what? How dare you!" Garak was almost screaming.

“How dare _I_? When you’re the one who slept with the Andorian in the bookstore. I saw you, damn you!”

"Did you hit your head before resetting this hell sequence or what?" Garak was livid, the scales on his neck dark and pointed.

“Of course not! Though apparently you did, considering you forgot breaking my heart and abandoning me at the replimat!”

"Of course I abandoned you! you were cheating on me with the Klingon chef, of all people! The Klingon chef, Julian!" Garak was now shouting, gaze narrowed as though trying to guess what Julian was getting from this lie. "See you next time we die, _doctor."_

And he left the room only to repeat the sequence.

**Day 8**

Julian sat on the bed, tired, his head between his hands. "Do you really think I cheated on you?"

“As much as you seem to believe that I cheated on you, yes. I saw you taking his hands and whispering something to his ear. I’m not an idiot.”

"I'm not that kind of man, Garak. Did you go after the Andorian because you thought that of me? To make me jealous?"

“I didn’t go after the Andorian at all. I stopped by his shop to pick up some books for us.”

"Then, what I saw in the library..."

“Was me asking him for advice about romantic poetry and him excitedly quoting his favorite selections, theatrics included. It was pretty ridiculous, to be honest. Now what about you and that Klingon chef?”

Julian bit his lip and ran a hand through his hair, wondering how they got here. Finally he knelt and took something from under the bed. "Since you never told me when your birthday is, I was about to propose we celebrated it next week with kanar. I wasn’t taking his hands, I was trying to make sure nobody would see what I was retrieving. Though next week passed quite a bit already as we were busy dying again and again."

“So... we were both planning romantic trysts for each other.” Garak suddenly started laughing, high and tight.

"And we both decided that dying 7 times was easier than discussing the trust issues we clearly have."

“Apparently. Though I don’t quite see how our tiff led to an explosion.”

"Pretty sure we pissed off some all powerful entity, and now we'll just have to go, defeat this challenge and be free to talk about what's happening to us." Julian offered him his hand as they walked out of the room.

**Day 9**

"Ok, scratch that, we still need a plan." Julian groaned as he lied back on his sheets, arms spread out and eyes shut.

“Apparently. Now think. What would’ve changed because of our break up? Maybe you would’ve rushed to save me?”

"Well, I did try to save you this time and it was useless, as we both flew through the air in little pieces, so I'm guessing the breakup was just bad timing." 

“Apparently so. Maybe — maybe the issue is _I_ need to save you, dear. Don’t leave the medical bay this time.”

"The last 7 times you tried to do it alone you died, so I'm pretty sure that won't work. Remember the 7th time we went through this I sat on a biobed to wait for it to end and it exploded."

“I ... have some memory of that. Wait — maybe we need to work together from the start. Make a plan.”

**Day 10**

“You used to have better ideas, Elim.” Julian rolled his eyes as they got back to ground zero. 

Clearly, working from the start, planning and all that was not of any use. They had even done diagrams and tried to ambush the invaders, only to die again.

“Maybe we truly need to not do anything.”

“What are you proposing?”

**Day 11**

Julian lied on top of the rocks, enjoying the heat from the Cardassian sauna as it wafted over them both. Yes, probably they’d die in a few hours, but at least they had unlimited access to Quark’s programs. “Maybe tomorrow we could go back to my suite in Hong Kong.”

"Definitely, my dear. How many times do you think we can do this before whoever is playing with us gets fed up with watching us enjoy life?" 

“Enough for us to make up for the lost time, I hope.” Julian started to massage his back and Garak almost purred. 

"Oh, yes, that scale, please. Do you think we're putting up a good show?"

“I’d certainly hope so, I happen to think we’re the very picture of decadence. A few days more and maybe they’ll be too jealous to stand it.” Julian kissed a scale along his neck, grinning against it. “And if not, I have always wanted to show you Dax’s Trillian spas holoprogram.”

**Day 12**

"No more Bond programs, please." Garak panted as they finished chasing their enemies.

“Fair enough. I didn’t realize how long it was until we’d gotten through the fifth one. I’ll have to ask Felix to make a new series for me once we’re out of this time loop.”

"Definitely. So, tell me again what are we supposed to steal?"

Julian opened his shirt and undid his bowtie. Even for him, it was too much exercise and he was tired.

“My heart.” Julian teased as he lied down on the floor, splaying out invitingly.

"Have some taste, dear, can't you at least take us to a room?"

“Of course. We have 6 hours left until we get back to where we started.” Julian gave Garak an apologetic smile as the room suddenly changed into a bedroom. “At least we can nap first?”

**Day 13**

Julian slid through the bedroom doors, carrying a tray with scones and Kanar mimosas. “Breakfast in bed, Elim?”

“Why not?”

**Day 14**

“You were right, my dear, this program Dax has is really good.”

“Mm, should I feel jealous of that Trill touching your scales?”

“Absolutely.”

**Day 15**

“Happy birthday, Garak.” Julian kissed the scales along his eye ridges, wondering if he should let Garak throw out his most hideous shirts as a present. After all, they’d just come back the next Monday. 

**Day 16**

“From now on, I declare myself Emperor of Earth!”

Garak rolled his eyes and tugged on the end of Julian’s cape. “Julian, I’m getting quite bored of these megalomaniac programs.”

**Day 17**

“Whoever is watching us, they should feel very embarrassed about what they just witnessed.” Julian sighed from where he was spread out on the rock, feeling exhausted. 

Next to him Garak smirked, eyes dancing as he laid boneless next to him. “Why? I think they should feel jealous, my dear. I happen to have a very talented human at my side, after all.”

**Day 18**

“I love when the replimat is empty.”

**Day 19**

“I refuse to wear pants today.”

“My dear, I don’t see why you need to make a statement out of that.”

“Because I plan on facing the invaders in my underwear, Garak.”

**Day 20**

“Do you think the invading force will mind it if we throw things from above the promenade?” Julian mused as he glanced down over the balcony, holding a few old pads. 

“Only one way to find out.” Garak dropped something terribly heavy looking down, and they didn’t make it very long that time. 

**Day 21**

“Look Elim, no hands!”

“Love, you will kill yourself with that bike if... oh, nevermind, too late.”

**Day 22**

“Are you sure this ...”

“Yes, yes, just put this on, Garak. You know full well not all of Quark’s programs are family friendly ones.”

Garak looked at all the things around him. “The whip is part of this program too?”

“An essential one, yes.”

**Day 23**

“If the invasion doesn’t kill me, this boring Cardassian movie certainly will.”

“Stop complaining.”

“Is even worse than Preloc.”

“It’s an _adaptation_ of Preloc’s books.”

“Precisely.” 

**Day 24**

“Do you fancy a space walk?”

“Why not.”

**Day 25**

"Do you humans really get in the salt water just like _that?"_ Garak looked at Julian with horror as he sunk clothless into the ocean. It seemed... cold. And salty. Not to mention he was worried some weird animal would bite his ass.

“Depends upon the human, but I’ve always found it rather refreshing.” Julian admitted as he stretched out in the imagined sea, long legs sticking up from the water. “And it does wonders for my skin.”

"You could be bitten by a sea creature." Garak put one of his toes inside the water and took it out again. "It's freezing."

“Believe it or not, I didn’t program anything that’d want to bite me besides you.”

"Then why didn't you program the water to be of a better temperature?"

“Hmm, well, I didn’t have time to fix it, but you could now.”

"Get the water to a temperature I'd enjoy, and I assure you I'll join you in this shameless display."

“My pleasure.” Suddenly the water became more like a hot spring.

"Who am I to not fulfil a promise, then." 

Garak was about to enter the water and Julian made a tutting nose. “Skinny dip. You promised that too.”

Garak stripped and entered the water. “True.”

Julian grinned and floated toward him, stealing a few quick kisses as he pressed himself against Garak. “Someone out there must find us rather lovely.”

"Not really, no." A disembodied voice said spitefully, and Q appeared in front of them. "Really. A puzzle that took Picard only three attempts to solve, and you've been at it 25 times and now are _floating_ instead of trying to save yourselves?"

Both stood up suddenly, though the only one who seemed very self-conscious about his aspect was Garak, who couldn't find a towel nor his clothes anywhere.

One more thorough look made him realize they had gone floating and now were too far to retrieve them, unless he wanted to give in to the indignity of diving to them.

Julian simply rolled his shoulders, glancing up at the man with a wry smile and striking a bit of a pose. If that Q was so fond of Picard, what could he do against his charm, right? “If that’s the case, then why are our clothes still so far away?”

"That's your fault and yours only, pathetic creature. Janeway managed to force me to get her out of the loop and apologize in only two days. Apologize, for Qs sake! Really, humanity wouldn't stand a chance with you as its champion. Nor would Cardassians, I must say."

“Hmm, and yet you’re still not dressing us even though I know you could. What would Captain Picard say?” Julian mused as he smiled cheerfully, leaning back against a rock. “So tell me, why us?”

"If you so want your clothes, go swim and get them. You're not the first man I've seen like that. I put all the officers on trial, and Garak just had the bad luck of being physically close to you at the moment. Sisko got it right on the 4th try. Even the Cerritos’ crew did better than you! 25 times, doctor Bashir! 25!"

“Hmm, but we were having fun. Why waste time with your puzzle when I could have a vacation with my doting boyfriend?”

"Because that’s not the point! Whatever, go back to the station. You truly are shameless." Q dismissed them with a flick of his wrist, defeated.

Julian threw himself across Garak as quickly as possible, trying to hide him from any prying eyes. He could handle being naked on the promenade. Garak decidedly couldn’t.

All eyes in the meeting room turned to them. Jadzia was dressed in what could only be described as cavewoman clothes, big scary mace included, Sisko was massaging his hand as if his fist had just gone through someone's nose, Kira looked scarily pleased with herself, O’Brien had his best I'm-so-traumatized-again face, and Worf seemed somehow embarrassed. Odo was nowhere to be seen, so probably he was just gooing away somewhere.

"I don't even want to know." Said Sisko, glancing at them, before leaving the room.

Julian coughed lightly, not moving an inch lest Garak be exposed. “Could we get a towel?” 

**Author's Note:**

> Comments and Kudos are love!


End file.
